KLM to fly on China gutter oil
Winnie Chong
Thursday, July 12, 2012
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is helping rid the mainland of one health issue, saying it plans to buy tonnes of gutter oil for use as fuel.
The airline, which currently uses a 50-50 mix of bio and fossil fuels, said it needs as much as 120,000 tonnes of jet fuel each year.
It has offered to buy 2,000 tonnes of gutter oil - a term used in the mainland to describe cooking oil that has already been used - from Shanghai to be refined into aviation fuel.
It was found that some restaurants were using it to prepare meals, causing a health hazard.
In June last year, KLM made the world's first biodiesel-fueled flight, carrying 171 passengers from Amsterdam to Paris.
From September, all KLM flights between Amsterdam and Paris will run on used cooking oil. The move is an important new step toward aviation sustainability, the airline said yesterday.
More than 200 KLM flights operate on biokerosene, a fuel derived from used cooking oil and treated to meet the same technical specifications as traditional kerosene.
KLM will enjoy a 30 percent cut in costs by using cooking oil instead of petroleum fuels in the mainland.
Eric Wong Tsun-tat, Polytechnic University mechanical engineering associate professor, said there is no problem in using gutter oil as aviation fuel, provided the refinery process and the composition is up to par.
According to Xinhua News Agency, a director of biofuel at KLM said the company has tested various gutter oil samples from China and was satisfied with the Shanghai quality. The company intends to source more gutter oil in big and medium cities in the mainland.
It will also look for used oil from North America and European countries.
While many mainland netizens welcomed KLM's move, some questioned why Chinese companies do not use gutter oil.
One user said he is now brave enough to dine out as the gutter oil "will take to the skies instead of restaurants." Another quipped that passengers on KLM will get the smell of Sichuan food from the plane's fumes.
In recent years, gutter oil scandals have surfaced nationwide. Dozens of people were caught selling gutter oil while a mainland journalist covering the news was killed last year.
Gutter oil smells similar to normal cooking oil though some reports say it is toxic and contains excessive aflatoxins and cannot pass food safety standards. It can harm the liver over time.
